Happy Birthday, Poppy!
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: Madam Pomfrey's birthday is coming up, but she feels she is getting ill and tries to hide it, knowing that Severus and Minerva always try to make her birthday special. Completely AU, sick!Poppy. A little drabble I wrote for my own May writing challenge.


**Happy Birthday, Poppy!**

It was the end of May, and it was raining cats and dogs just like during the previous week. Poppy Pomfrey woke up by the sound of her alarm clock, having the impression as if she had just fallen asleep. She lazily opened her eyes, glancing in annoyance at the grey cat that wiggled its tail and miaowed until he slapped the cat's head to turn the alarm off. '5:45' the cat's face showed. '_That means I really have to get up_,' Poppy realised, noticing that she felt a little dizzy and listless as she sat up. '_Strange_,' she mused while she waited for the dizziness to pass, '_it's not as if I sat up too fast_.' She slowly got up and headed into the bathroom, hoping that a hot shower would help her to get more alert.

However, while she looked after the few students that came in with injuries obtained in their classes, she developed a small cough that became worse by the hour, and by the time the afternoon classes ended, her chest had become sore and she had a terrible headache.

'_I have to hide this from my colleagues_,' she mused, '_who knows what Minerva, Rolanda and Severus have planned for tomorrow_.' The next day was her birthday, and during all these years, her three best friends had always arranged something special for her. '_I just hope they haven't made plans for anything very strenuous_.'

During the evening, many students came to see her with colds and headaches, and she was too busy to have any opportunity of seeing her colleagues anyway. Apart from that, she knew that Minerva and Severus had been extremely busy during the last days. '_Well, considering that the school year is just over and the holidays are going to begin tomorrow, it's no wonder_,' she thought as she pondered if she should take a potion and which potion would be the best. '_I wish I could cast a diagnostic spell at myself_.' She decided on a simple Pepperup potion in the hope to either cure herself or to eliminate the normal cold from the list of possible diagnoses. '_If it's not gone by the morning, it's probably a light lung infection again._ _I just hope it won't get so bad this time_,' she thought as she went to bed extremely early, knowing that sleep was the best way to get better.

HP

At midnight, unbeknownst to Poppy, two tall figures entered her private quarters. One of them waved a wand around the room, gathering Poppy's wand as well as a few other things, while the other magically exchanged Poppy's usual night gown into an overlarge jumpsuit with little yellow ducks on a light blue back. "Sshh, you must be quiet," she told the ducks, "Poppy is asleep."

"Ready?" the other witch asked and produced an inflatable seahorse. The two women pressed it into Poppy's hand, tightly holding onto the animal themselves as one of them spoke the incantation, and they were whisked away in the blink of an eye.

Poppy woke up by a coughing fit, noticing immediately that the Pepperup potion hadn't helped at all.

"Are you all right, Poppy?" she heard Minerva's voice like from far away, accompanied by excited quacking.

Poppy slowly opened her eyes, only to find her surroundings strangely blurry. '_I'm not in my bed anymore; that's for sure_,' she realised and asked in confusion, "Minnie, where are we?"

"Happy Birthday, Poppy!" Rolanda jumped into the conversation. "We're at the seaside for our summer holidays!"

"We... WHAT?" Poppy groaned, suddenly realising that the soft ground she was lying on was sand. '_And I didn't even bring a headache potion_,' she groaned inwardly, fiercely rubbing her temples in a faint attempt to soothe the splitting headache.

"Poppy, happy birthday!" Minerva said in a smaller voice than their too energetic other friend, before she repeated her earlier question, "Are you all right?"

"How can I be all right if you kidnap me from my bed in the middle of the night?" Poppy asked as a violent shiver shook her body.

"The others will come and join us tomorrow morning as soon as the students have left," Minerva informed her. "Well, if you prefer to sleep than to spend your birthday night on the beach, we can go into the house."

They had rented a small house within a magical resort. Within the resort, they could do magic, the air and water temperature as well as the weather was magically controlled, and house-elves supplied the small house with food and drinks. All the teachers had decided to spend the first week of the summer holidays here together with the exception of the Headmaster, who was going to remain at Hogwarts, not daring to leave the castle in only Hagrid's and Mr. Filch's care.

"It's all right," Poppy replied, letting out a few harsh coughs. "It's just a bit cold here."

"Are you ill, Poppy?" Minerva queried as she conjured a warm jumper for the Mediwitch.

"No, I'm fine, but it's the middle of the night," Poppy replied, feeling tired and sick. "You could at least have told me in advance," she added, thinking to herself, '_then I'd have brought some potions_.'

"Ah, but that wouldn't have been half as much fun. Let's go for a swim," Rolanda shouted, running off to the sea, where the glow worms were glowing beautifully against the dark sky.

Poppy sighed and slowly scrambled to her feet, glad when Minerva pulled her up. They stood by the edge of the water, observing Rolanda play, until their friend splashed water all over them. "You're no fun at all," she complained. "Let's enjoy the night. Tomorrow, all the others will be here as well."

"I'm going to bed," Poppy stated, throwing Minerva a grateful look as she cast a drying spell at both of them.

"I'll come with you. Be careful, Rolanda!" Minerva admonished her friend, before she led Poppy to the house, where they were going to stay for a week. "I hope you don't mind sharing a room with me," she said as they entered the house. "We can change if you prefer staying with Rolanda."

Poppy threw her best friend a menacing glare. "No thank you. Rola babbles all the time; you don't even know if she's asleep or awake. You're at least quiet if you're not just gnashing your teeth." With that she let herself sink into her bed and drifted off to sleep within seconds, causing her friend to observe her in concern.

HP

When Poppy's mind slowly drifted back to awareness, she felt miserable. Apart from a splitting headache, she had an annoying cough, and with each cough her congested chest became sorer. '_Oh, I had a strange dream_,' she mused as she turned to the wall to keep the much too bright light from her achy and unfocused eyes. '_Let's just hope Minnie and Severus aren't planning anything so crazy for my birthday_.' With that she drifted back so sleep and fever induced dreams.

_Poppy was sitting on a beach together with Minerva, watching the waves of the ocean roll towards the beach and retreat again._

"_Relax, Poppy, we're on holidays," Minerva told her, causing Poppy to just enjoy her surroundings._

_Suddenly, however, a huge ship came towards the beach. 'It comes very near,' Poppy mused just when the ship anchored a few huge waves away and extended large tentacles towards the beach. Poppy watched terrified as one of the tentacles grabbed Minerva, while another one picked herself up, dropping her roughly onto the ship._

"_Minnie," Poppy said to Minerva, horrified, when she noticed Rolanda standing beside them, grinning._

"_Don't look so grimly, Poppy, this is so much fun," Rolanda shouted cheerily, causing Poppy to relax for the moment. _

_However, a few minutes later, the tentacles threw them off the ship and into pack ice._

'_Oh no, this is too cold,' Poppy mused, shivering badly._

"Very hot," she suddenly heard Minerva's voice and turned around in disbelief, realising that Rolanda was sitting on the edge of her bed, while Minerva leaned over her, pressing an ice-cold hand against her forehead.

"Good morning, Poppy, and Happy Birthday!" Rolanda cheered.

"Poppy," Minerva said sternly, "please tell me what you think is wrong with you? I need to Floo call Severus and ask him for potions."

Poppy sighed. "I'm not sure. Probably bronchitis or something similar; tell him light lung infection; the potions will work anyway."

Minerva nodded and conjured a thermometer, trying to force it through her friend's lips that were pressed together. Only when Poppy croaked angrily, "Don't make such a fuss," she could finally take her temperature and nodded again as she quickly retreated from the room.

"Severus will be here in a few minutes. He just has to make sure the others take the students to Hogsmeade," she announced two minutes later.

Poppy slowly reached for Minerva's hand as she sat down on the edge of her bed beside Rolanda. "Please promise me that you won't tell any of the others."

"Oh, I'm looking forward to see how you're going to try to hide this from the others," Rolanda chuckled, causing Poppy to throw her a menacing look.

Fortunately, Severus just entered the room, before the conversation could escalate, causing Minerva to sigh in relief.

HP

Three hours later, the whole Hogwarts staff except for the Headmaster was having a huge birthday breakfast on the beach. The teachers had brought a few house-elves with them, who had prepared everything and even brought a huge cake in the form of Hogwarts with them.

"Yoghurt cake with strawberries; it's your favourite cake, isn't it, Poppy?" Pomona asked gently.

"Yes, I love it," Poppy replied as she fought with the remaining of the huge piece on her plate. '_And it's so cold that it feels very soothing to my hot body_,' she mused, groaning inwardly as she eyed the table with the pile of colourful presents nearby.

Fortunately, her best friends noticed her discomfort, and Rolanda quickly suggested going for a swim in the sea that was just a few metres from them.

"Well, if you'd please excuse Poppy and me," Minerva replied as everyone else readied themselves for their bath. "We have a special plan for her birthday, which only involves the two of us, but we'll probably be back in the late afternoon so Poppy can open her presents." Turning to Poppy, she added, "Let's head inside and get our things first."

Poppy gratefully followed her friend back to their room, gulped down her potions and let herself sink back into bed. "Thank you, Minnie, but it's all right. You can go. Just tell them I was busy today."

"No, Poppy, I'm going to stay with you," Minerva replied softly as she gently tucked Poppy in and adjusted a cool cloth to her forehead. "And if you think I'd be bored while you're asleep, you're sorely mistaken," she explained, stepping over to the window. "You know several of our colleagues haven't been to the seaside before and can't even swim. I'll show you their efforts later on. This is too funny." With that she conjured a film camera and began to record Rolanda trying to teach Severus and Filius how to swim, while Poppy drifted off to sleep with a smile playing on her lips.

**The End**

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_There will probably be a sequel, since a friend asked me for a birthday story for her, featuring Rolanda..._

_I'm not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes or help me to correct them._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


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